


The Unstoppable Darcy Lewis

by SaltySweetMerm



Series: Music To My Eyes [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Cannon Divergent, F/M, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, WinterShock - Freeform, just a simple intro piece, might add more if people want
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-06 01:49:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14631549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaltySweetMerm/pseuds/SaltySweetMerm
Summary: Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes hadn’t been a resident on the Avenger’s compound that long. It had maybe been six months since Tony let him move in. From what she could guess, he spent most of his time on his own or training with either Sam, Clint, or Steve. But the first time she’d seen him, he looked like hell. Then again, being the new kid in town didn’t always guarantee to be the most enjoyable transition. Especially when said new kid had such a dark past. For awhile, Darcy was still quite suspicious of the winter soldier and planned to keep her distance. But it was only around 2 months ago that she’d seen him again for a second time.





	The Unstoppable Darcy Lewis

**Author's Note:**

> I should probably mention I don't have any beta readers. Apologies in advanced for misspellings, errors, and misunderstandings. I originally had this set in the tower but decided to change it to the compound.

“Working hard or hardly working?”

Darcy jumped, the unexpected comment jolting her from the light cat nap she had slipped into after dozing off at her desk. She sucked in a large breath, the crisp laboratory air filling her lungs  and waking her senses. The breath left her lips with a huff and after a quick stretch, she finally spun around to face her unwelcome alarm clock.

“C’mon, Sam, give me a break! Jane’s had me inputting data scenarios and running simulations all morning without _any_ caffeine to aid me,” Darcy whined, arms folding in front of her and a mock pout tugging at her lower lip. The Falcon only mimicked her expression and, adding insult to injury, made fists under his eyes like a crying child, mouthing a silent _boo-hoo_. She let out a laugh before dismissively waving off the avenger’s antics. He joined in her laughter and moved to lean against the end of her desk, arms folding as he twisted more in her direction. Sam was met with a bored huff as Darcy braced her chin on her palm, giving him an expectant look.

“So what, did you come here just to taunt my oppressive boredom as a form of cruel and unusual punishment-- or maybe you’d like to take over?” she offered, gesturing to her over crowded monitor which displayed many different simulations running and re-running while simultaneously logging the results in an open spreadsheet. Sam gave her another laugh, short and unamused.

“Hell no. You’re on your own with all... whatever that is. But...” he trailed, giving her a hopeful glance. Darcy only raised a curious brow. “...maybe you could help _me_ out with something?” A pause.

“You’re good with computers, right?” he continued, his tone becoming slightly more serious. Darcy suddenly got the suspicious feeling that he was about to ask her to do something illegal.

“Yeah... why, what’s up?”

********

Moments later Darcy was in a security office hacking into the camera feeds while Sam distracted the totally unnecessary (she guessed they were Happy’s idea) guards.

_Oh yeah, definitely illegal..._

What made it even worse was the reason.

“Stupid boys and their stupid pranks... why do I always get involved in this crap?” she muttered to herself, finally pulling up access to all of the camera feeds in the compound. Sam appeared beside her seconds later, one hand on the back of Darcy’s chair and the other on the edge of the counter while his eyes rapidly scanned over the feeds before them.

“You know this makes you a cheater, right?” she tried to dissuade the hero. No luck, though, since he only smirked and shook his head.

“All’s fair in love and war, Darcy.”

“ _On what planet_ is love involved in this situation?”

He gave her a sideways glance with a grin, “A love of winning.”

Darcy rolled her eyes again for what seemed like the billionth time today and perused the multiple feeds lazily. There were far too many to hold all at once on the masive screen, so Darcy only caught small glimpses as Sam flipped impatiently through the various sectors. She was really hoping she could have gotten away for a small break that _didn’t_ involve her being an accessory to delinquency. Fortunately Sam must have noticed or found whatever he was looking for soon, because he was quickly cursing Tony and making his way out the door. She spun in her chair, eyes following after his retreating form.

“You’re still a cheater, Wilson!” she called out the door, his only response being “Thanks, Lewis!” After a moment of silence, Darcy sighed looked up at the ceiling.

“FRIDAY, you’re not going to tell Stark about this, are you?”

“ _Only if he asks, Miss Lewis; but your involvement can remain undisclosed. Is there anything else I can do for you?_ ”

“Nope, that about does it. You’re the best, thanks.”

“ _Of course, ma’am._ ”

FRIDAY could have totally locked them out of the security office but since Darcy wasn’t directly involved with the prank war waging between certain avengers, she figured Stark hadn’t put her on some sort of suspicious activity watch list. She probably would be after this, though. _Damn you, Sam Wilson._ With a tired sigh, the part-time computer hacker spun back to the screens to logout and vacate the premises when an unusual movement caught her eye from the camera feed labeled B3. It was definitely a dude. He had longer, kinda stringy hair that was pulled back sloppily. The mysterious man wore a long sleeve shirt that hung loosely from his form and a pair of baggy sweatpants that seemed to drag on the floor. He had stumbled suddenly, a hand flying to the side of his head before he continued his descent into the lower levels of the compound.

 _Is that... Barnes...?_ After following the man through a few more cameras, she stopped seeing movement. Darcy squinted at the screens, checking, and re-checking with no luck. She decided that he’d probably moved somewhere off camera. He was hiding. _Smart, but why...?_ Before Darcy could give herself time to change her mind, she found herself heading in the direction of the lower levels. Her sometimes overbearing concern for others lead her into situations like this. Well aware of her extremely limited abilities and lack of hero status, Darcy figured the least she could do was make sure the guy was okay. He looked like he was in some sort of distress and that was enough to keep her moving forward.

Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes hadn’t been a resident on the Avengers compound that long. It had been maybe six months since Tony had finally relented and let him move in via the Captain’s request(s). From what she could guess, he spent most of his time on his own or training with either Sam, Clint, Natasha, or Steve. But the first time she’d seen him, he looked like hell. To be fair, being the new kid on the block didn’t always guarantee the smoothest of transitions. Especially when said new kid had such a twisted and mangled past. For a while, Darcy was still quite suspicious of the Winter Soldier and planned to keep her distance. But it was only around 2 months ago that she’d seen him again for a second time. Jane had been up working all night because of a recent breakthrough in her research, which in turn meant Darcy was going to stay up all night to not only run and record the data trials but also keep an eye on Jane. Around four in the morning, the intern had gone to a nearby kitchenette area to grab some more granola bars and start a fresh pot of coffee. After clicking on the lights, Darcy was met with the sight of James Buchanan Barnes leaning over the sink, his face dripping with water and his arms shaking. As soon as the light had flooded the room, though, the man was moving away, swiftly heading for an exit and clearly not wanting to be bothered. After that, she’d spot him once in a while around the compound, just long enough to make eye contact. Darcy always got the feeling he was searching for something, his eyes calculating what his next best move would be. Concern had begun eating away at her ever since the night she’d bumped into him in the kitchen. She imagined this might be another one of those instances. That’s okay, though because she definitely didn’t plan on sticking around or anything. No way. She’d just check on him and leave. Maybe go get help if he needed. But not her, nope. Just a quick check and...

_Shit..._

Darcy finally found the hidden man sitting on the floor against a wall, his hands tangled in his now loose hair. He looked... scared. Shaken to the bone, even. Darcy crept forward quietly, hoping not to startle him ( _could he even be startled? She didn’t know-- what the hell was she getting herself into again?_ )

“Sergeant Barnes?” she started slowly, lowering herself to his level. He didn’t move, only continued to hold himself as if to stop from falling apart. Pity quickly flooded into Darcy’s gaze as she looked over the second man out of his time. _Which is weird, right? You’re not supposed to feel bad for these guys? They don’t like that?_

“... My name’s Darcy Lewis. I work upstairs with doctor Jane Foster and... I just... I thought I’d come check on you since I saw you on the-- well, and...” Oh hell, who was she kidding; this was way beyond her pay grade and there’s no way _she’d_ be able to help him. Darcy pushed herself up from her crouched position, admittedly faster than she should have in front of a super soldier assassin on the brink, and started,

“I’m going to go get someone to help you, okay, I’ll be right--” but she was cut off before she could finish, a cold, metal grip suddenly crushing her wrist to keep her from leaving.

“ _Don’t--_ ” James met her gaze, his eyes pleading not to tell anyone. His voice was uneven and urgent. Truthfully, he knew he needed to start talking to someone. But it couldn’t be Steve. _Not_ Steve. And not any of Stark’s therapists, either. He didn’t need to be over analyzed by some up-and-coming professional who would no doubt try and make a name for themself by trying to fix the damaged comrade of Captain America. This left Bucky feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place. In the beginning, he’d planned on trying to cope by himself and sort out his own mind. Unfortunately his attempts soon proved fruitless as the nightmares and flashbacks grew stronger and more vivid with each passing night. James then attempted to avoid the harsh images all together, choosing to forego sleep all together. Several days and nights later, his mind began to crumble from the stress of no sleep and the images returned. Forced to finally find some rest, the winter soldier ended up awake again in the middle of the night after sleeping for over 12 hours. He had been a quiet stroll towards a small common area when another flash of memories plagued him, sending him struggling to the nearest sink. James splashed water onto his face and gripped the edges of the counter in an attempt to control the chaos consuming his head. Just as he’d begun to settle, however, the lights flicked on. Someone was there. Not wanting to be seen, he’d fled back to the darkness. The other person who had shown up had been the astrophysicist’s assistant. Darcy, he remembered. From then on, he began noticing the girl around the compound more and more. She was friendly and determined but held up a sarcastic wall to hide her insecurities. She was no professional, but she was someone. Someone human and real and not involved with his past... Maybe she might be worth talking to, he’d considered. But now? She’d probably want as little to do with him as possible. He was dangerous; a _monster._

Almost immediately after he’d reached out to her, a loud crack came from under the soldier’s grasp. Darcy let out a short yelp along with a few choice curses to try and distract herself from the pain now throbbing in her wrist. As fast as James had grabbed her, he’d released her and fled. Barnes was gone and now she was leaning against a wall on her own, sucking down breaths to try and calm herself as she cradled her broken wrist to her body.

“I’ve informed Captain Rogers and Mr. Wilson of your situation, Miss Lewis; is there anyone else I should notify?” FRIDAY’s voice chimed in from above.

“No, that’s fine. Thanks, FRIDAY...” she gritted out, looking down at her injury for the first time. “Damn...” Her wrist was  already bruising where his hand had been and the swelling was already pretty bad. Before she could inspect it more however, she could hear Sam and Steve calling out her name.

“Yeah! I’m over here..!” she replied. Steve made his way over to her first with Sam right behind him. Her coddled arm against her stomach didn’t go unnoticed.

“What happened?” the Captain demanded, his expression a mix of concern and business. That’s Steve for you. Forever seeking justice. Sam nodded at Darcy before his eyes began scanning their surroundings, surveying the situation.

“It was an accident,” were the first words to spill from her mouth, already apologizing for someone she didn’t even know that well. But gods did he look like he needed help, too. Criminal past be damned, he was definitely suffering and it wasn’t just physically. Steve stayed silent, waiting for Darcy to continue recounting what happened.

“Seriously, it was just an accident. I think I freaked him out-- I should have just told you guys in the first place but--”

“Him...?” Steve questioned, his brows furrowing. He’d asked who, but Darcy bet he already knew. She hesitated, gauging Steve for what his reaction might be to her confirmation. After a long moment of silence, Darcy finally answered, “Barnes. It was Barnes... But Steve I swear it was my fault, I--”

“How?” the captain cut her off, his face unreadable. He didn’t look mad, just... determined.

“I saw him stumbling down here on the camera feeds... So, I followed him just to make sure he was okay but when I said I was going to get help, that’s when he, uh... grabbed my arm...”

Steve seemed to be absorbing the situation for a moment before nodding at Darcy. “Okay. Let’s get you up to Dr. Cho. Your wrist is looking pretty swollen,”

“I hadn’t noticed,” she snarked with a small smile. Steve couldn’t help the small twitch of his lips at her reply before turning to Sam.

“Make sure she gets up there without injuring herself more, all right?”

“Hey! I am not clumsy!” Darcy defended, laughing at Steve’s humor with her. After Sam had Darcy upstairs, Steve then turned back to the basement, his expression no longer light. He walked around the basement area slowly, keeping a keen eye for any movement.

“Buck...” he called into the empty room. “Look, I know what you’re going through is tough. It’s not something you should be dealing with alone. Tony has people you can talk to about whatever’s on your mind. They can help you.”

Silence.

Steve sighed and relaxed against a wall, folding his arms in front of him and looked down at the ground. After a few more moments of silence, Steve added,

“You can talk to any of us, Buck. Even me.”

Still no response. Steve stood in silence a moment longer before he huffed out a breathy laugh, a memory pulled back to him from before his Captain America days. “Hey... You remember that girl Betty? From the Stark Expo?” he laughed a bit more, recalling details of that night now left in the history books. “She was clinging to you like her life depended on it. Then she saw Howard Stark and it was like she couldn’t see you anymore. You were so put off, after that, I couldn’t even get you to eat the carnival food we were supposed to gorge ourselves on that night!”

“Yeah, because then I found Claire,” came a quiet, defensive response. Steve looked up to see his friend from years ago standing tiredly across the room from him. He smiled, relieved Bucky had trusted him enough to talk even though it didn’t address the immediate elephant in the room.

“Oh yeah, that’s right... Right...! Because then Betty came back and ended up splashing Claire with juice before she slapped you in the face,” he recalled with an amused grin. “And then--”

“And then Claire slapped me, too. Yeah, I remember...” he replied with a snort, shaking his head at the memory.

“Not one of your better nights, huh?”

Bucky looked up at Steve finally, a small, half smile tugging at his lips but not quite reaching his eyes. “Not one of yours either. Pretty sure you ended up with a black eye after picking a fight with some guy bigger than you.”

“He was bad-mouthing Franklin!”

“The president _didn’t care_ , Steve.”

“Yeah, well... _I_ did,” he replied, his smile softening as he pushed himself away from the wall. Bucky just stared blankly, his mind trying to comprehend everything that had just occurred.  But before he could do anything else, Steve was headed upstairs, leaving his friend to himself.

“And Buck? Make sure you apologize to Lewis.”

A few days later, Darcy was back to her her regular routine in the lab. Despite the cast on her arm, she was surprisingly efficient at one-handing her daily tasks. Typing, eating, carrying various pieces of small equipment and parts were all no match for the unstoppable Darcy Lewis. Her day was going surprisingly well considering her predicament. It also helped that throughout the day, various people Darcy had become acquainted with across the compound had all been stopping by to sign her cast with messages of encouragement and well being. It was now decorated with numerous colors from the sharpies she kept tucked away in her desk. Naturally, the truth behind why she needed the cast was known only between herself, Sam, Steve, Barnes, and FRIDAY. And despite Jane’s constant worrying over the assistant’s ability to continue working, Darcy found herself in high spirits. When Jane asked if she could manage picking up a few charts from the other room, the ever-determined assistant was already out the door and halfway down the hall. She strolled into the glorified printing room and waited for the big machine to begin slowly spitting out the massive documents. Her fingers thrummed against the tray of the machine as she bounced on her feet a bit, her higher energy keeping her more fidgety than usual. All that extra energy had her jump when a quiet knock sounded behind her. She placed the hand on her good arm over her heart, turning to her unexpected company with a sheepish grin.

“Sorry, I...” she she trailed off, her amused expression fading into one of slight surprise. In the doorway stood none other than Sergeant Barnes himself. He opened his mouth to apologize but Darcy beat him to it.

“I--

“Sorry, I-- oh-- my bad, what were you...?” she stumbled over her words, cheeks reddening in embarrassment.

“...just that I knocked, so... I didn’t mean to scare you. ... Sorry,” he replied in a voice quieter and steadier than her own.

“Oh. Right. Uh, that-- That’s my bad, I’ve just been on an energy high today so... ‘m kinda... jumpy, I don’t know,” she responded quickly, dismissing the awkwardness that just exploded into the atmosphere around them. Silence filled the air afterwards and Darcy’s eyes began looking around at anything but him. She was about to excuse herself when he stepped forward, his mysterious aura becoming a bit familiar. He seemed... confident.

“Look, Ms. Lewis, I--”

“Darcy. You can call me Darcy-- sorry, continue,” she shook her head at herself, her hand spinning in a quick circle as a gesture for him to keep talking.

“Darcy...” he corrected, dipping his head bit to try and hide the small smile now tugging at his lips. She was definitely an amusing character, just like Steve said. He cleared his throat and held his hands behind his back then, looking back up at her with sincerity pooling in his eyes.

“Look, I just wanted to let you know how... how truly sorry I am about the other day. I was out of line and--”

Darcy’s eyes widened and she waved her good hand in front of her, shaking her head as she cut him off again.

“No, no, no! It’s totally fine-- I mean it’s not fine, but like, I’m okay-- ok, well, that’s also a lie, but, like I understand...” she quickly explained before slowly trailing off. She took a few steps forward as she began explaining herself more.

“I understand that you were going through something complicated and scary and definitely not fun. I understand that you didn’t mean it and that it was a complete accident. I’m... sorry, too...” she trailed, her head tipping to the side a bit as she gauged his reaction. The look on Barnes’ face was a mix of surprise and... amusement? Definitely amusement. Darcy noticed a light to his eyes that wasn’t there before. So she waited in awkward silence for his reply, giving him a questioning look when he approached her with a hint of a smirk pulling at his lips.

“At least let me make it up to you...” he suggested, the once stone-faced soldier’s face now a bit softer and waiting for her approval. The befuddled Darcy Lewis only shrugged with a subconscious “Sure.” In her daze of trying to process the current situation, she missed his short laugh at her answer. It wasn’t until after he’d uncapped a red sharpie and gently pulled her casted wrist closer that she realized he was signing it. Her eyes fell to the sharpie, staring a moment before a smile graced her lips.

“James Barnes, the world’s next artist,” she commented. Now added to her cast was a colored in red star with the word _Bucky_ signed next to it ( _there was also a_ sorry _in parentheses below it but he’d already apologized so that was just silly_ ).

“I dunno about that, but...” he laughed at her joke, looking  to meet her eyes. They shared a long gaze, enjoying each other’s presence before breaking the silence with more laughter.

“Do you--” Darcy’s proposition was cut off by a large paper falling to the floor behind her, and suddenly she remembered her work. “Oh, crap!” In a flurry of frantic organization, the intern turned assistant was compiling the fallen papers and rolling them up to be brought back to the lab.

“My bad, these stupid charts are like crazy important to my boss and...” but Darcy never finished because there was no longer anyone there to talk to. She looked around the room confused before her attention is brought back to the door, a voice coming from down the hall.

“See ya’ around, Lewis.”

She sighed, her shoulders falling in defeat.

“Darcy,” she replied to no one, now. No doubt he’d heard her anyway, though. And with that, Darcy Lewis gathered Jane’s charts and headed back to the lab, fairly confident that she’d be seeing Mr. Barnes more often than before.

. . . . .

“Hey... Was that _my sharpie_...?!"

**Author's Note:**

> Oh man, my first post on AO3. I am equally nervous as I am excited! I'd really like to explore writing more with Darcy. I've done a lot of roleplaying as her on tumblr, but this is the first official fic! I'd love to know what you guys think, so any comments and criticisms are appreciated!


End file.
